Comic Strips

Community colleges only offer up to associate's degrees. If you happen to live in a state where they got bumped up to colleges that offer bachelor's, then maybe, but those tend to have limited 4-year degrees and aren't going to really help anyone land lucrative jobs. A person with a 4-year degree from Orange County College will likely get passed up for a person with a degree from State University.

Master's and doctorate's are only given at universities and their tuitions are typically at least 3 times more per credit. Those include nurse educators, therapists, social workers, public school teaching managers, public administrators, non-profit managers, professors, historians, sociologists, community organizers, ... basically any type of specialized public servant and social scientist that makes okay middle-class income is going to be in significant student debt while also coming out of school later. Lots of these don't even get to start making the okay income until several years of experience in the field. Also, just because a teacher has a master's degree doesn't mean there's a public school manager position available, and when there is, it's going to be a competitive hiring process where many will apply but only one gets hired.

That means that many people don't achieve these positions until their 30s. By that time, they've likely been paying very little into their student debt, possibly allowing interest to accrue and increase the amount owed. Once they make enough to actually start decreasing the principle, they're also getting a home loan and start raising children, which is even more expenditure. Being a lower- to middle- class millennial and younger with a goal of tertiary education is practically an unaware commitment to being a debt slave.